Discovery

by Jan Domagala

  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 overpowered. 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 sentries 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 with 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.”

  42

  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 focused 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 of 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 towards 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.” 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.”

  Sinclair contacted Colonel De Boer who had reached the planet’s atmosphere by that time, “Colonel, the enemy are sending reinforcements after you. We believe it’s 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 counterattack 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. He turned to look at Matt, “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 to his crew, “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 recalled 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 ai
r 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. 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.

  There was nothing more to add so they continued walking towards 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 towards 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 in diameter, 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 rooftops 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 Novas 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 Novas 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 with the advantage of being 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.

  “They’ve realised we’ve turned around and are on their way here,” explained Kurt as he concentrated on where they had just come from.

  “What, you’re trying to tell me you’ve heard them, out here and above all this noise?” Riley said in a derisive tone.

  Kurt turned to look at him and simply said, “Yes.”

  “No one could hear that.”

  “I did.”

  “You’re serious aren’t you?”

  “Look, we haven’t time to debate this now. I still don’t know how this works but once I’ve tuned into a sound it’s logged into my memory core and my brain recognises it without my even realising I’ve heard it.”

  “Okay, so what do you suggest?”

  “If they get here before our lift, I’ll try and hold them off long enough for you to get on board, then you give me covering fire so I can join you.”

  “How long before they get here?”

  “Any second now, they’re close. I think they’re listening to what we’re doing, tracking our scent.”

  Riley looked skyward to see if he could gauge how long it would take their ride to arrive.

  “This is gonna be close,” he said watching the shuttles get closer.

  Kurt said, “Closer than you think, they’re here.”

  Riley turned to see Kurt running across the open ground they had covered to reach the landing pad towards the door where the first of the cat creatures had appeared.

  43

  One huge creature swooped down on the group, its huge talons ready to rip and tear its prey apart.

  Its target was Torres standing next to Vance, both facing away with their backs to the creatures’ approach.

  Cooper turned in their direction as he scanned the skies for possible targets to shoot.

  “Watch out!” he shouted.

  Vance glanced over his shoulder and saw the creature. He pushed Torres with his right hand as he dived in the opposite direction.

  One huge talon ripped Torres’ shoulder as the creature clawed the air where she had been a split second earlier.

  Cooper aimed his assault rifle at the huge beast and fired on fully automatic. Pulsed plasma bolts strafed the beast’s stomach as it flew overhead. Blood from the wounds sprayed those below splattering them and the ground with gore.

  Mortally wounded, the creature never managed to regain enough height to escape as Cooper and then Vance continued to fire a continuous stream of plasma bolts at it. Eventually its wounds were so bad it crashed to the ground sliding to the edge of the landing pad.

  They felt the impact reverberate through the ground but did not let their concentration waver for even a second.

  As soon as Vance and Cooper were certain the creature posed no further threat, they immediately turned their attention back to the skies as the creatures continued to attack.

  “Eyes open everyone, here they come,” Riley shouted.

  THE ATTACK SHIPS RELEASED from the recently de-cloaked Outlaw colony speeded their way towards the planet.

  Captain Biggs had scrambled all the Nova fighters, numbering twenty-three, which were in hot pursuit firing their ramjets to thrust them up to maximum boost.

  Suddenly pulse cannons on the Outlaw colony started firing at the Odyssey. High intensity pulsed plasma bolts struck the huge Confederation starship down her flanks. Luckily the shields had already been raised which prevented any damage.

  The colony’s pulse cannons continued firing at the starship, switching targets in an attempt to get through the shields.

  “Will those shields hold Captain?” Sinclair asked as concern etched across his brow.

  “They will General, hopefully,” Biggs replied trying to sound more confident than he actually felt. His hands gripped the armrest on the command chair, his knuckles turning white as his grip increased to prevent himself being thrown from his seat as the starship was buffeted from the cannon fire.

  “I hope you int
end to return fire sometime soon,” Sinclair said quietly so only Biggs could hear.

  “General, I know my job, and so do the men and women under my command,” Biggs replied. “Weps, target that complex and return fire.”

  The weapons officer returned fire on the colony using the Odyssey’s own pulse cannons. The barrage of pulsed plasma bolts collided with the colony’s outer rim, strafing the sides on their way to the weapons array.

  The colony’s shields deflected the bolts fired, which produced a stalemate scenario, with neither side gaining the upper hand.

  “Sir, I’m reading a hyperspace window opening on the edge of the star system,” ops said, adding, “It’s a big one too.”

  “Keep eyes on it ops, no surprises now, okay?” Biggs replied calmly.

  “Aye, sir,” ops replied.

  “Odyssey to Colonel De Boer, we may have company arriving very soon so I urge you to complete your mission post haste. We’re about to run out of time Colonel,” Biggs said to the rescue party.

  “Understood Odyssey, we’ll be back as quick as we can,” replied De Boer.

  “The clock is ticking Colonel, don’t make me have to leave without you or else the General will have my hide,” Biggs said.

  “Understood Odyssey,” De Boer said, then severed the call as he went to work.

  “There’s a ship coming through, sir,” ops reported as the hyperspace window opened to allow the starship to pass through.

  Sinclair walked over to the ops station to see it more clearly on the scanners as the readings revealed the identity of the craft. “Well, that explains why they arrived there, on the edge of the star system. Something that massive would need a window large enough to accommodate it and if they opened it up too close to a planet, its gravity field would distort the window.”

  “Do we know them, more importantly, are they friend or foe?” Matt asked.