by Tripp Ellis
“I've got five inbound fighters," Flack said over the comm line. "ETA 12 minutes."
Walker studied his PDU. He scanned the aerial view of the compound he had acquired from the drones. "There's never just one way into a bunker. There’s got to be an exhaust port, air intake vent, maybe even an emergency exit.”
Emma's face was buried in her PDU as well, Looking for another way in.
“Just FYI, I’ve got 20 armor piercing Hades II missiles with incendiary cores on board,” Chloe said.
“I’ll mark the target,” Walker said. He used his PDU to relay range, azimuth, and elevation data to the Specter’s targeting computer. The Reapers fell back and took cover outside the structure and waited for Chloe to work her magic.
"You may want to stand back as far as possible," Chloe said. "This one's going to be big."
The Hades II missiles were specifically designed to bust bunkers. Emma hoped they’d be powerful enough to pierce the thermal resistant composite door.
Ryan crouched down behind one of the parked cars and held his ears.
“We’re all clear,” Walker said.
The Specter swooped into position. Chloe locked onto the target and squeezed the trigger. Two rockets streaked through the sky, spitting fire and propellant. They punched through the structure and the entire compound exploded in an amber glow. Bits of wood and concrete showered the ground. Plumes of black smoke billowed into the night sky.
The blast was deafening, and the heat from the explosion was almost enough to scorch the hairs from your arm. The once covert operation had announced itself to the entire planet, it seemed.
The air was filled with a thick haze. The front half of the structure had been ripped away.
Walker and his team advanced through the rubble. The staircase was just a pile of concrete. The blast door was a thing of the past. Walker tossed a flash bang grenade into the basement, followed by a smoke canister. The team descended into the dark pit.
They were met by muzzle flashes as they carved their way through the milky smoke.
DAK! DAK! DAK!
The clatter of AM 6 fire filled the corridor.
Walker zipped off a flurry of rounds, dropping the terrorists in their tracks. The team pushed through the basement, clearing rooms, looking for Dr. Metzger, and their ultimate target.
Through the smoke, Ryan saw a man appear at the end of the corridor. He had an RPG slung over his shoulder. Ryan squeezed the trigger, double tapping the man. He fell to his knees, but not before he fired the RPG. The rocket raced down the corridor, spewing a trail of fire and smoke. It whizzed just past Walker's head as he dove to the concrete. The grenade slammed into the far wall. Chunks of concrete sprayed out.
The explosion tore Iron Heart in two. His blood painted the walls.
Kraken was on the ground, screaming in agony. Multiple pieces of shrapnel had ripped through his body.
Ryan couldn't hear a thing. He was dazed and disoriented. He felt like he was bleeding from his ears.
Butterscotch rushed toward Kraken and administered first aid. But there wasn't much he could do. Kraken was dead within seconds.
The team was taking more fire. Bullets streaked overhead. Emma and Walker returned fire, taking out two more terrorists.
Emma advanced to the corner. She angled the barrel of her weapon around and shot two more men. Walker advanced to Emma’s position, then to the next doorway. The two leapfrogged ahead, clearing rooms. They came across a locked holding cell that contained Dr. Metzger.
Walker yelled through the poly carbonate window on the door. "Stand back!”
Metzger moved to the corner of the holding cell.
Walker placed a breaching charge on the door and blasted it open. The door shredded, and Walker kicked the remnants off its hinges. He stormed into the room with Emma and collected Dr. Metzger.
"Captain Walker, UPDF Reapers.”
Metzger coughed from the inhalation of dust from the charge. "I'm glad to see you."
"Do you know if your family is at this facility?" Emma asked.
Metzger shook his head.
"Parkes, Hunter… escort Dr. Metzger to the ex-fill point and wait for extraction."
“Aye, sir."
They snuck out the way they came, disappearing into the thick haze with the doctor.
Walker and Emma pushed forward. They found Metzger’s lab. It was loaded with high-tech equipment. A partially completed prototype missile took center stage.
“Can you make heads or tails of this?" Walker asked.
"This must be Project Starshine," Emma said.
Walker glanced at his watch. "We've got seven minutes to find Ragza and get out of here."
He moved out of the lab into a massive storage area. There were rows and rows of semi-automatic weapons, rocket propelled grenades, surface to air missiles, and even a few nuclear warheads.
"What do they need Metzger for if they’ve already got nuclear weapons?"
"I think Project Starshine is something more than a nuclear weapon."
Gunfire suddenly interrupted their conversation.
Walker and Emma took cover behind some weapons crates. Ragza was at the far end of the storage room, firing from behind some crates. This was going to be his last stand.
"Don't come any closer, or we all die.” Ragza said.
58
Emma
"I'm holding a thermal grenade on a dead man switch,” Ragza yelled. “If anything happens to me, it's not going to work out well for you."
"If it means taking you down, I'm fine with that," Emma said.
Walker pondered the next move. He crouched behind a row of crates with Butterscotch and Emma.
“Why don’t you two clear out,” Emma said. “No sense in all of us dying here.”
Walker looked at her like she was crazy. He had never run from a fight, and he wasn't going to start now. “We'll take him down together."
“I can handle this scumbag.”
Walker wasn't having any of it.
"I don't have much time left anyway. And I can't think of a better way to go out than like this.”
Walker snarled at her. "I've already lost all the troops I'm going to lose. Nobody else is dying today. Unless it’s the target.”
“Okay. I’ve got an idea.” Emma reached into her pack and launched 4 mosquito drones. They flew into the air and quickly took a position surrounding Ragza. Emma could see his exact location on her PDU. “Last chance to clear out. This could end badly.”
Walker wasn’t going anywhere.
Emma issued several commands to the drones. A moment later, one of the synthetic mosquitoes swooped in and stung Ragza. Within seconds, his body was completely paralyzed. His muscles stayed in a state of contraction. This was the tricky part—if his muscles relaxed, the grenade would detonate.
The paralysis was only going to last for a minute.
Emma sprinted across the storage room to Ragza’s location. He was on the ground, seized up and contorted, still clutching the grenade. She kicked aside his weapon, then knelt down and delicately took the grenade from his hand. She made sure to keep the dead-man switch depressed until she could disarm the device.
She breathed a sigh of relief when the display turned green and read: disarmed.
Ragza began to regain control of his body.
Emma jammed the barrel of her weapon in his face. “Give me a reason,” she snarled.
Walker knelt down and rolled Ragza onto his stomach. He wrenched his arms behind his back and cuffed the terrorist with flexible restraints. Then he pulled Ragza to his feet. Walker shoved the dirtbag toward the exit.
"Butterscotch, recover our wounded and prepare for evac.”
“Aye, sir." Butterscotch scurried out of the room.
"You have accomplished nothing, my friend." Ragza had a smug tone. "Someone just like me will pop up to lead the insurgency. You can do little to stop it."
"Keep moving," Walker grumbled.
Emma crin
ged. She knew there was a degree of truth to what he was saying. "I'll keep hunting people like you down until there aren't any of you left."
Walker ducked into the lab and set thermal charges to detonate in 15 minutes. He didn’t want to leave any traces of Project Starshine behind for someone to continue. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew it wasn’t good.
They moved through the ruins of the basement, then climbed up the rubble that was once a staircase. They emerged from the dilapidated structure and regrouped with the remaining members of the squad in the courtyard.
"Chloe, get us out of here,” Walker said.
“We’ve got 30 seconds until contact," Flack said.
“Make it snappy, Chloe,” Walker added.
An instant later, the two Specters emerged from the night sky. They descended toward the courtyard.
The Specters were silent. But Walker heard something ripping through the air. It was the unmistakable sound of an air to air missile. It slammed into one of the Specters, blossoming in a brilliant amber glow. The craft shattered into a million pieces. Bits of black stealthy material showered down. The smoldering carcass of the Specter careened toward the squad. They dispersed in all directions like roaches in the light.
The fuselage plowed into the ground, taking out Butterscotch.
Walker’s eyes went wide with terror. "Chloe? Chloe, do you copy?"
There was a long silence.
Walker’s heart was in his throat.
A moment later, Chloe responded. “I copy."
Walker exhaled with relief. Chloe was still alive. But the mission had turned into a huge Charlie Foxtrot.
Ragza had disappeared in the chaos.
Chloe landed in the courtyard as Aldebaranian fighters circled overhead. They sliced through the air, banking around to make another run.
Walker and Emma ran for the Specter. She scanned the grounds for Ragza, but she didn’t see him anywhere.
Ryan and Piper pulled the bodies of their fallen comrades into the Specter. Flack had climbed down from his overwatch position and was arriving at the craft at the same time as Emma and Walker. They climbed inside and Chloe lifted off the ground.
Emma gave a last look around and saw Ragza running across the courtyard toward the main entrance of the compound. She was sitting in the side door of the Specter with her feet hanging over the edge, touching the skids below.
She cringed. That son-of-a-bitch was getting away. Soon the compound would be a distant memory, and Ragza would live to terrorize again.
Emma brought her weapon into the firing position and lined Ragza up in her sights. It was an impossible shot from a moving vehicle. She held her breath and kept steady. Then squeezed the trigger twice in quick succession. Two silent rounds streaked across the courtyard. This was her only chance to take him down. She wasn't going to get another shot. The moment seemed like an eternity as the bullets flew through the air. She waited impatiently to learn the accuracy of her shot.
A plume of red mist erupted from Ragza's head. It was a good indicator that she had been spot on accurate. Bits of brain and skull spewed out. The terrorist’s body crumpled to the ground, his hands still cuffed behind his back.
Chloe arced the Specter around, throttled up, and ascended toward the upper atmosphere.
A proximity alert sounded. Several fighters were on her tail.
"I need proof of death," Emma said.
"They're just going to have to take your word for it," Walker said.
"I may have the shot on our flight video recorder," Chloe added. She was as cool as could be and didn't seem rattled by the fighters on her tail. She weaved the Specter through the sky, avoiding the stream of bullets that were blazing at the vehicle.
The Specter had a 30 mm machine gun turret mounted under each of the sub-wing pylons. They had a 360° range of movement, and an auto targeting system. Multiple camera systems around the Specter gave Chloe a 360° view in her visor. It was like flying an invisible craft—she could see through bulkheads in all directions as a result of the camera feed. She could also switch her visor to display the rearview.
"What's the ROE here?" Chloe asked. "Can we fire back?"
"That's a negative," Emma said. “Not unless you want an intergalactic incident."
59
Emma
Chloe kept spiraling the Specter through the sky, evading the gunfire from the Aldebarani fighters. The Specter had a slight edge on speed, but once she disappeared into the clouds the stealthy craft was impossible to find.
Chloe programmed in jump coordinates, and the Specter vanished into slide-space as soon as they reached escape velocity.
Emma breathed a sigh of relief. She was flooded with mixed emotions. Finding Ragza had been her obsession for the last several months. But now that he was dead, she almost felt aimless. His haunting words echoed in her mind. She knew he wasn’t going to be the last terrorist to attack the Federation. But she hoped she had made the galaxy a somewhat safer place.
It was a long jump back to New Earth. It gave her plenty of time to debrief Dr. Metzger, and learn all about Project Starshine.
“It is a unconventional type of weapon. And one that can wreak greater havoc than any other in the history of the galaxy,” Metzger said.
“And you built it,” Walker said.
“I had no choice. They were going to kill my family. And, because of this rescue, they are probably dead.”
“We are going to do everything we can to find your family,” Emma said. “I can assure you of that.”
“Do they have a working prototype?” Walker asked.
“No, not yet. I was stalling to complete the project.”
“Explain to me exactly how it works,” Emma said.
“The device accelerates the consumption of hydrogen fuel within a star. When that happens, the star will begin to collapse under its own weight. Depending on the size of the star, multiple different things can happen. But eventually the star will begin to fuse helium. When helium is gone, it will fuse carbon, and so on until the core turns to iron. Eventually, if the star is large enough, the star will collapse upon itself and explode in a supernova. The whole process normally takes billions of years.”
“Normally?” Emma said.
“This device could accelerate the process to take place within a few years. Theoretically.”
“Theoretically?”
“If my calculations are correct.” Metzger paused for a moment. “And my calculations are always correct.”
“Something like that could force the colonies to relocate,” Emma stammered. The magnitude of it all was stunning.
“Now I know how Oppenheimer must have felt when he created the first atomic bomb.” Metzger’s sullen voice was barely audible. “I should never have started down this path.”
“At least you didn’t complete it,” Emma said.
“Yes. But someday, someone will.”
Thank You!
I can’t express my appreciation enough that you’ve read this far, and that you’re still reading. I’ve had so much fun writing this series. I hope you’ve had fun with me. There are a lot of stories left to tell in the Galactic Wars, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride. Stop by and say hello on Facebook (I’m there more than Twitter.) I’m going to get back to writing now. Again, thank you.
If you’ve enjoyed this book, consider reviewing on Amazon—a simple “Loved it,” or, “Hated it,” would be appreciated.
—Tripp
The United Planetary Defense Force Wants YOU!
Join my newsletter and never miss a new release. No spam. Ever. Just cool stuff.
See All of My Books!
Tripp Ellis Catalogue
Connect With Me
I'm just a geek who loves sci-fi and horror. I was abducted by aliens and forced to travel the galaxy as the official biographer of an evil galactic ruler. This is where I learned to hone my craft. Fortunately, I escaped and made my way back to Earth, and now I write about
my adventures. I hope you enjoy!
@trippellisbooks
trippellisbooks
www.trippellis.com
