Exiles

by Richard Alonzo

  Chapter 18 The Scorpion Nebula

  The secondary hanger deck was an awe inspiring sight. The Sultan’s shuttles were lined up behind their assault force, waiting to ferry them to their departure points, a safe distance from the Themis. Where they would perform their death defying jump through hyperspace to the Raider base. The teams, all volunteers and some of the most battle hardened veterans amongst the crew and refugees, were split into groups of ten. Each group lined up in two ranks of five behind their leaders.

  As promised Admiral Fiaz had supplied two teams, led by the marines who’d help liberate the Sultan, her crew and their families, when Jasper had attacked and captured their home world Dracon. They were kitted out in full EVA battle armour. Their personal kit bags stashed securely under the additional oxygen tanks they would require for the outbound journey. They carried the Draconion weapon of choice, heavy projectile rifles, firing accelerated lead slugs, primitive, but effective. They each carried a conventional projectile pistol as a back-up and combat daggers around their waists as a last resort.

  Next up we’re Vlade and Chole. Their teams were kitted out in the freshly fabricated all-terrain battle armour of their Talmari clan. Densely woven jet black, high tensile, skin hugging nanofibres, optimised for maximum protection and movement. Bright orange flashes indicating their rank and clan status. A skin tight hood enveloping their heads terminated in a reinforced face mask through which just their eyes were visible. Between their suit and external oxygen tanks, sheathed across their backs, were two crossed Courtain’s. The traditional swords of the Talmari warrior. They carried twin barrelled plasma rifles, giving twice the fire rate of conventional plasma weapons, in their primary hands. Leaving their secondary arms free to wield the twin plasma pistols holstered on their thighs. Each pistol carried a spring loaded blade, that could be deployed in close combat, to supplement the guns firepower or detached and used as a combat knife if required.

  Logan’s motley crew of former miners and construction workers looked almost as rough as the Raiders they were going up against. They wore the heavy, power assisted, armoured EVA suits, favoured by off-world construction crews working in particularly dangerous environments. So long as the power source held up they were virtually indestructible and the suits powerful exoskeleton gave the user incredible enhanced physical strength and carrying capacity. But rendered them virtually immobile if the power source failed, due to their bulk and weight. They carried standard issue gauss rifles and a lightweight laser pistol as a back-up.

  Surprisingly Horra had decided to lead the sisters of Hyneari into battle. They were dressed in two-tone body armour. Their bodies encased in a toughened black metallic shell, their limbs in a more flexible dark blue material that moved fluidly and effortlessly, moulding itself to their limbs. Their heads were encased in rigid black helmets sporting blue tinted visors, gold flashes on the side of the helmet and their shoulders indicating their rank and number of combat kills. The Hyneari sisters weapon of choice was a thin, long barrelled, laser rifle with telescopic sight, built for precision kills, rather than rate of fire. A semi-automatic laser carbine was holstered securely on their right side for situations requiring more indiscriminate fire and like the Talmari they carried two blades on their backs. A razor-sharp Kopis with a long, finely balanced, curved blade and a short, deadly stiletto. Together they formed a lethal combination in close quarters combat.

  Finally came Themis own Bravo and Charlie teams lead by Ford and Carol. Their recent losses in fighting the Anterian’s made good with replacements drawn from team Delta. Given the deadly array of weaponry carried by their allies, Ford couldn’t help but think they looked a little light weight in comparison. Their armour was modelled on Bryson’s own highly polished, gunmetal grey, customisation of Malstrom’s shock troops kit. That had been widely adopted by the Free Forces of Anobar after the rebellion. It had uniquely macho, muscular, contours. That not only had the cosmetic effect of making the wearer look particularly rugged and muscular, but the practical effect of helping dissipate and deflect the focused beams of energy weapons. The integrated helmet, that could be slid in or out of the suits collar at a moment notice, had a gold tinted, mirrored visor. A single flash on the helmet crest identified the wearer. They carried standard issue snub-nosed plasma rifles, with a secondary grenade launcher slung under the barrel. This was complimented by a utility belt which carried a plasma pistol, spare grenades and laser enhanced combat knife, amongst other items.

  They’d deliberately decided to keep this mission low-key. Apart from the shuttles and their troops waiting to embark the hanger was largely deserted, other than for the Admiral, Viqaas, David, Bryn and Anna overseeing the final preparations. Anna and her medical team were busy making their final checks, ensuring that the medical package had been downloaded and integrated into everyone’s suit.

  Ford stepped forward, retracted his helmet, and shook the Admirals hand warmly, thanking him for his support and the use of his shuttles to deploy their force. The Admiral nodded, acknowledging Ford thanks. Assuring him that the transfer of civilians to the Themis was nearly complete and that the Sultan stood ready to jump in and evacuate them, if it became necessary.

  Ford thanked him again and turned to David and Bryn. “I expect you to keep this ship in one piece while I’m gone and I want an update on crew training and integration when I get back.” then spoke more generally to all of them, as Anna joined the group. “Once we drop into the Scorpion Nebula the team leaders will network their HUD’s to me and I’ll relay the team’s progress back to you, through Lucy and the Jay-bird.”

  Bryn smiled. “Lucy’s in for one hell of a surprise when you guys drop-in.”

  “Well let’s just hope it’s an even bigger surprise for ‘Captain Scott’ and his friends.” added David.

  “That’s what I’m counting on now let’s get this show on the road.” said Ford turning to address their forces. Stepping up onto the small podium that had been set out in front of them for just such a purpose. Instinctively they all snapped to attention as they saw him step up to give them the traditional pre-battle address, even Logan’s rough looking bunch. Ford held his hand up. “At ease everyone, relax while you can.” he waited as they complied. It was like a collective sigh of relief flowing through their ranks, releasing the pre-mission tension. He cast his glance along the assembled ranks in front of him.

  “It makes me proud to stand here before you all today and have the honour of leading you into battle. Today we prove that the will to survive, to work to together for freedom and justice, to bring peace and order to a chaotic universe, is stronger than any of the forces reigned against us. Today we stand united, whatever our race or origin, whatever our background or beliefs, in pursuit of a single common purpose, to end the meat run and bring its perpetrators to justice. Now let’s bring it on people, time to ship out!”

  The response was muted. The tension palpable, hanging heavy in the air. As they turned to embark their allocated shuttles and receive final mission briefings from their squad leaders. It was understandable. They were about to attempt something, that according to Gaia’s data banks, had not been attempted in eon’s. A personal transit through hyperspace, using a technology that had been lost since the Ancients departed. Given that none of their species had attempted it before, it was impossible to say with any certainty what the effects would be. Although the medical package Anna had cooked up, with Gaia and Alaster’s assistance, would significantly reduce the risk.

  Ford caught up with Horra, while the Hyneari waited to board the shuttle they were sharing with Logan’s team. “I thought you were opposed to committing acts of treason, won’t this make you an outlaw in the eyes of your Government?”

  Horra detached her helmet and focused her dark beaded eyes on Ford. Pulling her dark blue lips into a thin smile, revealing a thin sliver of brilliant white teeth, before she spoke. Ford fancied that a fresh tattoo had been added to her bald, hairless head.

  “A
good leader knows when to lead and when to follow the will of her sisters. They have decided, that in order to preserve our honour as a people, we must follow you into battle and, as you humans say, tell our Government to ‘go to hell.’” she hesitated, her temples pulsing slightly as she caught her breath. Seemly bringing the new tattoo, he’d fancied had appeared there, to life for a moment. “If that makes me an exile like you, then so be it. Still it seems the universe is full of exiles these days and they have a habit of turning up around you, for better or worse.” she inclined her head slightly, bowing to him as she finished speaking, and reattached her helmet indicating their conversation was over.

  “What that all about?” asked Carol, as he joined her on the shuttle their teams had been allocated.

  “Not sure.” said Ford smiling laconically. “Although, I think when news of what we’re about to do here gets out, it won’t only be the Talmari government that’ll be pissed to see whose joined our crew.”

  The Draconion pilots and their flight crews waited patiently for everyone to climb aboard their shuttles and strap themselves in. There were four in total, each carrying two teams twined with a mission objective. Mendez and Reynolds on the first shuttle had been tasked with securing the hangar deck. Specifically the release the Phoenix, the Amastra and any other ships that could be used to evacuate anyone they found being held prisoner on the Raider base. Next up were Vlade and Chole. Their job was to take down the Raiders external defences, providing any ships leaving the base with a safe exit trajectory. The third shuttle carried Logan and Horra’s teams. Ford couldn’t help thinking it wasn’t his best choice of pairings, but needed Logan’s team inside knowledge of the base and its construction to locate the prisoners quickly. Although he couldn’t be entirely sure of Horra and her ‘sisters’ either, he trusted they would be strong enough to deal with Logan if he went off-mission. Finally Ford and Carol’s teams populated the fourth shuttle. They were targeting the bases control nexus and Ford wanted to deal personally with Captain Scott. As soon as they were all strapped in Themis disgorged them into space and the shuttles powered swiftly away to their predetermined drop-off points.

  They watched in silence as the Themis and Sultan receded into the distance. As soon as they were the designated safe distance away from the ships the shuttles fanned out ready to deploy them. Ford gestured to everyone to power up their suits, run through the final equipment checks and activate their external extended range oxygen tanks, before attaching their personal wormhole generator to their breastplate. As soon as he had a green light from each member of the team on his HUD he gave the fight crew the order to decompress the cabin and begin deployment. He watched as in perfect silence they dropped out of the shuttle, one at time, at sixty meter intervals, suspended in space. First Carol’s team then his. Ford was the last to deploy and waited for the other teams to confirm their deployment.

  They hung silently and alone in space, eighty-eight individuals hermetically sealed inside their suits, suspended in an isometric grid at precisely sixty meter intervals. The Themis and Sultan were little more that dark blobs against the brooding red giant of Scorponoid-A, that dwarfed it smaller blue companion Scorponoid-B. Their only reference points in the vast emptiness of space. As the shuttles retreated to a safe distance Ford rolled his eyes upwards to link with Gaia and Alaster, one last time, to activate the micro wormhole generators and reaffirm their pre-programmed coordinates. He had the green light from all team leaders and checked his teams and his own equipment again to ensure it was secure. He clenched his right hand into a tight, ball like fist, like the knot he could feel forming in the pit of his stomach. Around him in space he could see rings of softly pulsating LED’s, as the micro wormhole generators attached to everyone's chest came to life. He took a deep breath and open up a comm channel.

  “Okay everyone we go on my mark. One, two, three, mark!” he brought his fist down firmly against the button on his chest.

  The bridge crews of the Themis and Sultan watched anxiously as eighty-eight miniature wormholes opened and the assault team winked out of existence and into hyperspace. The clock was ticking, all they could do now was wait.

  Ford found himself being sucked into a tunnel of brilliant white light at breakneck speed. Instinctively he threw this hands up across his face, desperately responding to an ancient, primeval instinct, to fight against being sucked into the light. It was a fight he couldn’t and wouldn’t win. He was being propelled at a velocity he couldn’t begin to imagine into the blinding white tunnel. His heart rate was peaking, beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead, stomach churning, bowel twitching. Just as he thought the panic would overwhelm him he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his neck, groin and elsewhere. The medical package Anna had uploaded into his suit kicked in and nano-injectors flooded his major arteries with a potent cocktail of drugs. The sense of panic and nausea subsided and he felt his body relax. The muscle relaxants kicked in and a sensation of euphoria washed over him as he raced to towards the bloody red opening at the end of the tunnel.

  He exploded into hyperspace as the white tunnel of the wormhole collapsed behind him. It was impossible to orientate his body in the strange alien world he now found himself in, up, down, forward, back, it had no meaning. He could feel the wormhole generators shielding and inertial damping field straining against the massive shearing forces of hyperspace, as it struggled to keep him on course without tearing him apart. Strange black tendrils leapt out of the dense deep red mass of hyperspace, seeking to ensnare him and suck him ever deeper into this strange, hostile, alien world. He was tossed around like a rag doll, as his body twisted and spun around them, accelerating relentlessly towards his destination. He knew that he should be afraid, fear for his life even, but thanks to the drugs that coursed around his body he felt nothing, not even the passage of time. It was impossible to say if he’d been here for seconds, minutes, hours or even days. He plunged carelessly through the void ducking a tendril here, dodging a snare there. It occurred to him he ought to check in with Gaia, in case he‘d been dragged off course and the others were waiting for him. He shut his eyelids and rolled his eyes upwards into his skull. Nothing, even Gaia was beyond reach out here in the depths of hyperspace, for the first time in a very long time he was truly alone. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

  A pin prick of white light was just visible in the distant, sickly red and black mass of hyperspace, growing rapidly as he was sucked towards it at incredible speeds. Menacing coils, dark as pitch, corkscrewed towards him licking greedily at his heels. Hyperspace wasn’t going to let him go without a fight. He felt his body pitch violently, ducking and weaving relentlessly, as the black mass of cloying vines sought to ensnare him. His shields sparking violently as they lashed against it, looking for a hold to draw him back. It was almost as if hyperspace had an evil, malevolent consciousness, that was determined to claim him for its own. He jinked crazily around a particularly thick clump of knotted ebony vines, that took on the form of a clutching, clasping, evil black claw and was thrown unceremoniously into the white light that had suddenly grown into a tunnel around him. The thick, cloying, black filaments of hyperspace, leaping hungrily after him, trying to drag him back. He was too fast for them. The inertial dampers could barely cope with the rate of acceleration, as he thundered towards what appeared to be a solid white wall of light, like a man falling from a very tall building. He should have felt fear at the impending doom of impact, hitting a solid wall of light at an unsurvivable speed, but instead felt nothing, other than relief that the journey was nearly over. Then suddenly, and without warming, at the point of impact, the white light exploded around him, into millions of shards of disintegrating photons and vanished. Vomiting him out back into the cold, dark, indifference of normal space.

  For a split second it felt like his face was going to be splattered against his visor, like a bug against a windshield, his body liquefied inside his suit by the sudden deceleration. Then the suits shields and dampe
rs kicked in, compensating as he juddered abruptly to a halt, floating upside down in space. The microjets on his external oxygen tanks burst into life reorienting him towards his target as he felt the nanoinjectors punch into his bloodstream once more. This time to rapidly flush the drugs from his system and bring him back to his senses. As he righted himself a wave of elation and relief washed over him. He’d made the jump and survived it in one piece. Now, here he was, staring into the maw of the Scorpion Nebula and the Raider base within it.

  He waiting for the elation to subside, as the stimulants and mood stabilisers pulsing through his body found their equilibrium, and fired up his suits tactical computer. Checking his HUD for his and the other teams status. He waited patiently as each team leader followed suit and linked their tactile displays and helmet cams back to him, so he could relay their mission progress back to Themis. A steady stream of green lights flicked up on his HUD, indicating members of the assault teams who had arrived safely and their location. He was pleased to see they had minimal course drift and were already forming up into their designated teams.

  He had eighty greens on the board, six ambers and two reds. Mendez and Horra had lost one apiece in transit. He shuddered to think of them trapped in hyperspace. Perhaps, he hoped, a malfunction had deposited them elsewhere in the galaxy, with at least a slender chance of recovery before their oxygen ran out. The ambers we’re mostly minor equipment damage. leaking oxygen tanks or malfunctioning microjets. Which their comrades were already busy assisting them with, budding up to share oxygen and guide them in. The one that was giving the most concern was one of Logan’s men. He’d lost all power to the left hand side of his suit effectively rendering him hemiplegic. Ford broke radio silence and instructed him to join Mendez’s team and jettison his suit as soon as they were inside the base, scavenge another ASAP or take one from the Phoenix, once they’d secured it.

  As the teams took shape and prepared for the assault he sent a low frequency, coded data burst, to the Jay-bird. He smiled to himself wishing he could see the look on Lucy’s face when she received it. “Jay Bird establish link with Themis for relaying mission telemetry. Arrived safely forming up to attack, Ford.”

  A split second later a coded burst came back. “How the hell did you get past me, where's your ship?”

  Ford responded with another coded data burst. “No ship, we walked, maintain radio silence and relay mission data to Themis.” then seeing that all the teams were in place gave them the signal to move in.