Back on his feet, Jon saw that the bots were hitting the Ronin forces hard. They were being forced back, scrambling for cover, struggling to hold on. He looked to the Reiver contingent. They were fending off a group of the machines that had pushed their way into the Reiver ranks. He spotted Breeah. She was fighting hard. They all were, but they were being forced back nonetheless. To his horror, a couple of the bots had managed to get around behind them, cutting them off. They were going to be slaughtered.
Jon surged into action. Taking off at a sprint he raced for the Reiver position. Reivers fell as the bots closed in. Jon targeted the machines behind the Reivers and opened fire. His guns pounding one of them until its armor gave way and it blew apart. He moved on to the second machine scoring direct hits. It swung its gun around toward Jon, who unphazed continued firing. Unable to get of a single shot, the bot exploded in a tornado of shrapnel and tiny legs.
Reaching the Reivers Jon added the mech’s muscle to their effort. His guns fired incessantly, bursts of white flame accompanying the heavy ordnance.
“Breeah, fall back. I’ll hold them off,” said Jon.
Breeah didn’t respond. The Reivers did not retreat. They charged forward.
“What the hell are you doing?” said Jon.
“Keep shooting,” said Breeah.
The Reivers fanned out around the bots, throwing grenades and laying down fire. The multiple grenades exploded destroying another bot and surely damaging the others. Some moved their turrets, attempting to get a lock on the Reivers. Jon turned his focus to them, firing continuously. One by one they began to fall. It was working.
A single bot kept Jon in its crosshairs. It fired. The blast caught the hip. The armor’s integrity fell to under five percent. Alarms invaded his HUD, as the hip joint gave out. The mech crashed sideways into the ground. He tried to get up, but the mech wouldn’t comply. His fears were confirmed in the diagnostics display. The mech’s hip joint had sustained heavy damage. It wouldn’t be moving again without major repairs.
He had to get out of the metal giant. He accessed the controls to open the hatch. Nothing. He tried again. The hatch didn’t budge. He was trapped.
“My hatch won’t open,” Jon said over his comm.
The Reivers rallied to Jon’s position, encircling the prone mech. They formed a protective wall around the downed mech. With the mech lying on the ground, Jon couldn’t get a good view of anything. He tapped into Breeah’s combat suit and broadcast her feed to his HUD. It didn’t look good.
“Reivers, fall back,” he said.
“Stand your ground,” ordered Jonas.
“What are you doing?” shouted Jon. “Get the hell out of here.”
“I am not under your command, Jon Pike.”
“Goddamnit Jonas, there’s too many of them.”
Jonas didn’t respond. Jon tried the hatch again. Nothing. He kicked at it. Still nothing. He checked Breeah’s video feed to find two bots closing in on her, turrets taking aim.
“Breeah look out!” said Jon.
He held his breath. His HUD was filled with a blinding flash of light. No. No. No. He thought. Please no. Filled with dread he called up Breeah’s vitals on his HUD. She couldn’t be dead. Probably just injured. They could fix that. They would fix that.
But she wasn’t dead. She was fine. What just happened? He went back to the video feed. It was clearing up. Just ahead now lay the charred remains of the attacking bots. The ground exploded with strafing fire from above and he watched more of the enemy go down.
“Does anybody know what the hell is going on?” Jon broadcast.
“The orbital battle is over,” said Lieutenant Jarvi over the commm. “The coup fleet has surrendered.”
“Excellent,” said Jon, watching intently as the tide of battle began to turn. “Where did the fighters come from?”
“They’re from General Calledonius’s carrier,” said Jarvi.
Heavy ordnance fell from the sky. The light so blinding Jon had to look away. This last wave of fire didn’t come from a fighter. Either the Ronin, or one of Calledonius’s ships was contributing the weight of its guns to the battle. With orbital support, the Colonels had no hope, and Jon expected their surrender in short order. The battle for New Byzantium was over.
Chapter 48
Colonel Bast stood in the Ronin’s sickbay waiting for Doctor Ellerbeck. He listened to the sounds of his ship and crew. Information from the ship’s systems streamed in front of his eyes, updating him on the state of the ship’s repairs and readiness. He heard the chatter of his crew. Several still used the brain chips for communication, and as their commanding officer, Bast could eavesdrop on any of that chatter.
What would it be like without all that background noise? He had known nothing else since he had been a child. Soon it would all disappear. He would left with only his own thoughts. What would that quiet be like? Could he tolerate it? He didn’t know, but would soon find out. And that was the reason he would have his chip removed first. There were several risks associated with the procedure, and as the commander, he would take the risk first. If the procedure was found to be too dangerous, only he would suffer the consequences.
The Ronin was a good ship with an excellent crew. Even more so now that they had joined forces with Captain Pike’s crew and the Reivers. The battle for New Byzantium had created a real bond. They were now truly united as one crew.
He had ordered the ship’s fabricators to create new uniforms for the entire crew. If they were going to be united, they needed to look the part. A new uniform would make everyone feel like they actually belonged. It would also help prevent any feelings of animosity. Juttari uniforms might encourage recriminations. Too many had suffered at the hands of the Juttari. The uniform had no place on this ship. Along with the new uniform, all Juttari symbols would be removed from the ship. The new symbol of the Ronin would be the official insignia.
With Prime Minister Sallas back in power, New Byzantium became a trusted ally. The Ronin would maintain its independence, but work closely with Sallas, and General Calledonius. They made preparations for what many considered would be an inevitable attack. The Colonels who had led the coup were taken into custody. They soon confessed. They admitted that the coup was sponsored primarily by Franz Stumpf, CEO of Amboss Corporation, together with a few of the other corporations. They wanted to quash New Byzantium’s fledgling democracy, so that none of their populations got any ideas. Unfortunately, now that the cat was out of the bag, the corporations might decide to wage outright war against New Byzantium. Even without war, tensions would remain high. The Kemmar threat, though still distant, was an ever present danger. Whatever happened, New Byzantium needed to be ready.
Prime Minister Sallas didn’t waste much time after taking office to propose the sharing of technology. In particular, he wanted the jump system. Of course, if there was one thing that could prepare them for the coming challenges, it was the jump system technology. Whether they would share the technology was another matter.
The door opened and Dr. Ellerbeck walked into the room, accompanied by two assistants. Bast hoped all the intelligence he had about her was true. She was the top human expert on alien medicine. She knew better than anyone else how the human body reacted to the introduction of alien technology. He knew if anyone could safely remove the brain chips, it was her.
“Are you ready to begin, Colonel?” said Ellerbeck.
“Yes, Doctor. I am eager to get started,” said Bast.
Ellerbeck nodded, her blue eyes locked onto his. “Before we begin, I would like to remind you of the risks involved. There is no telling how your body will respond to the removal of the brain chip. Brain damage and death are very real possibilities. There is also the risk of psychological side effects.”
“I understand the risks.”
“As I’ve already told you, I’ve studied how these chips integrate with the brain, and I have extracted them before, but I’ve never removed one from a live patient.”
“That will change once you remove my chip, Doctor. Afterwards, removing them from the rest of the crew should be much easier.”
“This is your last chance to back out of the procedure, Colonel.”
“No, I want the procedure, Doctor.”
“Very well,” said Ellerbeck. “Then let’s begin.”
***
When Colonel Bast woke up he instantly felt that something was wrong. Something was missing. His stress levels started to climb as he struggled to determine the problem. Looking around he realized he was lying on a bed in the sickbay. Then he remembered that Dr. Ellerbeck was going to perform the procedure. He tried to lift his head to look around but couldn’t move. Why?
“Take it easy,” said a woman’s voice. He instantly recognized as Ellerbeck.
“I can’t move.”
“The anesthetics. Your Juttari implants made you resistant to most standard anesthetics, so I had to use something more powerful. Unfortunately it will take a bit longer for it to leave your system.”
“Doctor, something is wrong. Did something happen during the procedure?”
“No. There were no complications. Your vitals are fine. What do you feel?”
“Like a part of me is missing.”
“We did just remove your brain chip. So, yes, a part of you is missing.”
Bast began to calm down. He needed to think this through. The procedure was a success and there were no physical side effects. What else could it be? He attempted to run a diagnostic on himself, but couldn’t. The chip was gone. Then he realized what disturbed him. The quiet. The noises he was used to hearing on a daily basis were silenced.
“It’s all gone,” he said, almost saddened by the realization. “Even things I didn’t notice anymore. Background noises. All gone. Everything is so quiet.”
“Yes, that is a natural response. You’ve had all that noise in your head your whole life.”
“The quiet is overwhelming.”
“It’ll take some getting used to, but you will. Of that I am sure. If it’s any consolation, many people spend years trying to quiet their minds. Once you get used to it you might find that you like it.”
Would he ever get used to it? He knew that it would be different, but had not expected to react this strongly to the silence in his mind. In truth, he realized that he missed not having instant access to the technology in his brain. The telepathic communication. The interfacing with the ship’s systems. He had taken it all for granted, and now it was gone forever. He knew it was the only way to secure freedom from the Juttari. He did not want to be a Juttari slave again.
He closed his eyes, feeling sleepy again. The effects of the anesthetic still taking their toll.
“When will you begin operating on the rest of my crew?”
“As soon as you are fully recovered and we’re sure you’re okay, we will start.”
“I’m okay,” said Bast, and drifted off to sleep.
Book 4 – Ghost Fleet
Chapter 1
“You will be commanding the Vanguard. The second experimental Space Force jump ship,” said Admiral Walsh.
Captain Nygel Pierce stood at attention before the Admiral, processing as much of the startling new information as he could. A ship that acted like its own jump gate? The whole idea was fantastical. “Excuse me, Sir, but what happened to the first jump ship?”
Walsh’s face darkened. “We don’t know, Captain. It will be your job to find out. The first jump ship was a destroyer class ship named the Hermes. It was tasked with finding the lost colonies.”
“The lost colonies? But they are just a myth.”
“They’re not a myth, Captain. As part of its mission, every time the Hermes successfully jumped, it was supposed to deploy a jumpspace beacon, so that future jump ships could follow in its footsteps. When the Hermes found the colonies, the beacons would provide a clear route to them. Unfortunately, the Hermes stopped deploying beacons shortly after its mission began. We want you to find out why.”
Walsh paused as if expecting another question from Pierce. When none came Walsh continued. “The Vanguard is a Dreadnought Class Battleship, much larger and much better armed than the Hermes.”
A battleship? Pierce thought. They aren’t playing around this time. “Do you think the Hermes was attacked?”
“We’re not discounting the possibility, Captain. If it was, you’ll be much better prepared to deal with the threat.”
Pierce had no doubt. A Dreadnought Class Battleship was a ship of the line, and the largest in the Space Force fleet. It could slug it out with any Juttari warship, and its incredibly thick armor meant it could withstand a massive pounding. “Do you think the Juttari had something to do with this?” Pierce hoped the Juttari were involved. He’d love nothing more than another opportunity to square off against those bastards.
“That is for you to find out, Captain. When you do, you will dispatch a communication drone to Earth with a full report.”
“A communication drone? At that distance? That could take decades, Sir.”
“The communication drones on the Vanguard have been fitted with their own, smaller jump systems. Because of their small size, they can’t jump as far as the Vanguard, but they’ll make it back in a reasonable time frame.”
“Wouldn’t it be faster to have the Vanguard return to Earth?”
“It would be, but you have another objective to complete. We still want to find the colonies, so once you learn what happened to the Hermes, you will continue the search for them.”
“Understood, Sir,” said Pierce, in reality trying to wrap his head around all the surprising information. Now simple communication drones could fold space like a jump gate. What was next? He glanced over at the Diakan, silent, sitting in the corner of the room. And what do the Diakans have to do with all of this?
Walsh noticed. “This is Ambassador Varyos.”
“Greetings, Captain,” said Varyos, in that typical Diakan hiss.
“Greetings, Ambassador,” said Pierce.
“The Hermes had a team of Diakans on board,” said Walsh. “Diakus is very interested in learning of their fate.”
“Understandable, Sir,” said Pierce.
“I’m glad you feel that way, Captain, because you’ll also have a team of Diakans on board the Vanguard. The ship will be under your command, but the Diakans will have mission oversight.”
“Sir?” To give a group of Diakans command oversight wasn’t unheard of, and he had dealt with it before, but he thought he had moved past that sort of scrutiny.
“They can veto your orders, Captain. Don’t worry, they’ll stay out of your way, but if they think an action will threaten the mission, or the Vanguard, they can step in. We can’t afford to lose another jump ship. Is that going to be a problem?”
“No, Sir.” There wasn’t much he could do about it anyway.
“Good. Officially this is a Space Force operation, but in reality it is a joint project with the Diakans.”
What isn’t? It wasn’t the first time he had to play ball with the Diakans, so Pierce took the whole thing in stride. The last thing anyone could call him was naive. He knew full well that the Diakans owned the Sol System. There was no point pretending. He left that nonsense to the politicians and civilians. If it made them feel good to think they were independent, then so be it, but he knew different. And he didn’t care. They needed the Diakans. The alliance made humanity stronger. Why rock the boat?
Walsh accessed his console. “I have forwarded all necessary information to your comm. You are to take command immediately and ensure the Vanguard is ready for its mission on time.”
“Yes, Sir. When will-”
A shrill klaxon interrupted Pierce, followed by an explosion that almost threw him to the floor.
“What the hell?” said Walsh, looking at his console. “That’s impossible.”
“Sir?” said Pierce, bending his knees to brace himself.
“We’re under attack. It
’s the Juttari.”
“The Juttari?” said Ambassador Varyos, standing up from his chair.
The words stunned Pierce. The Sol System was heavily defended. There was no way the Juttari could get this close to Earth without being noticed. Unless-.
The door to Walsh’s office slid open and the Admiral’s aide marched into the room.
“What is it, Lieutenant?” snapped Walsh, flustered by the attack.
The young man raised his arm and fired a hand held energy weapon, burning a quarter sized hole in the Admiral’s chest, toppling him off his chair, onto the floor. The man turned and fired on the Diakan Ambassador. A blue energy bolt melted the Diakan’s large right eye and ripped into his brain.
Pierce dove for cover. The man swung his arm around and fired sizzling streaks of energy at him, just as the station shuddered again.
What the hell is going on?
Pierce rolled away and behind Walsh’s desk, simultaneously drawing his sidearm. The aide rounded the desk, weapon firing. Energy bolts tore through the carpet, leaving black burn marks in the floor, barely missing Pierce.
Damn it! Pierce fired back as he scrambled for more cover. He missed. The Lieutenant was on him, weapon aimed at his head. Another explosion rocked the station, knocking the man off balance as he fired. The energy blast grazed Pierce’s shoulder. It stung like a bitch, but didn’t kill him. Pierce squeezed off several rounds into the man’s face, their impact throwing the Lieutenant to the floor with a thud.
Explosion after explosion rattled the station. The Admiral. I’ve got to help the Admiral.
Pierce crawled toward Walsh’s body. Walsh’s chest rose and fell. He’s still alive. Pierce knelt beside the Admiral. Urgent eyes looked back at him.
Pierce tapped his comm, “I need a medic. The Admiral’s been shot.”
“No time,” said Walsh, struggling to speak.
“Sir, you’re badly wounded. You need immediate medical attention.”
The Pike Chronicles - Books 1 - 10 Page 69
